Today is the day we leave. It is sunny outside. Warm with a slight breeze and I'm ecstatic to be moving.
Yea right!
The weather is cold and wet. It's raining outside. Not the nice calming rain, but the loud, annoying, pounding rain. And I don't want to be moving. I am scared. I lived in the same house my entire life with the same furniture and the same everything.
I don't like new things. The whole idea terrifies me. I knew the people in our town. I like to watch people. Not in a stalker-ish type of way but just observation. Now I am moving to a whole new house. This house is in a whole new city. But no, it doesn't stop there. A whole new country!
My mother was from America. Hence the reason I was born and raised in the U.S. I was born in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania and that is where I lived up until today. Let me explain.
My mother was from Modesto, California. But when it came time for college she chose Penn State. My father is from Japan, but he decided to come to college in the U.S. It just so happened that they ended up going to the same school. They met their sophomore year by a mutual friend. Though it wasn't until their junior year that they started dating.
After they graduated college my parents moved in with each other. Although, they weren't my parents yet. My mother got a job in Bridgeport as an interior designer and my father got a job as a History professor at the local college.
Everything was working out well. They had plans. They bought a house after a year or two and then they started thinking about children. My mother decided she wasn't ready yet. My father was, but he is a patient man. So, he waited. Thing is, he didn't have to wait long. One week after moving into the house, my mother got pregnant.
It took her a little while to realize that the nausea was morning sickness. Soon enough, she did. Her first thought was to get an abortion, but my father said no. He has strong principles and that is one of them. No killing. The fact that she got pregnant through consensual intercourse meant that she didn't have that right in my father's eyes. He still thinks that way.
And after a long discussion, she agreed to keep the child. Now, here's where things got difficult. During the fourth month of my mother's pregnancy there were complications. Her pregnancy got very difficult. She went to her doctor and was put on strict bed rest until the end of her second trimester.
And she did as told. After her second trimester, things became easier and she was taken off bed rest. Now here is the kicker. Everything went fine for about 2 weeks after that.
One day my mother was at someone's apartment discussing fabric swatches and colors for the kitchen tiles when she went into labor. Luckily, the people were kind and they rushed her to the hospital. My father was called and he came. Five hours later, I was born: Kaiya Emiko Hikari Kodou.
I was 1 month and 2 weeks premature. They told my parents I was small even for a preemie, but with time I should grow. I had to stay in the hospital for about a month before they were allowed to take me home.
Now at this point, everything was good. After my extended stay, the doctors told my parents that there was no need to worry. That everything was fine. When I was about 11 months I began to walk. This is where the problem lies. My legs.
When I did start walking, I couldn't do it very well. Now that's no surprise. A baby that falls down when she walks. But things didn't improve much as I got older. So, one day my mother took me to the doctor. They examined me and then figured out the problem. My leg muscles weren't very strong. I couldn't stand up for long periods of time or walk very far.
This worried my mother. She was worried because I wasn't normal. The thing is, is that she wasn't worried for my sake. She was worried about having to raise a child that required more time and energy. She was already planning on how self sufficient I would be. This shattered that. The doctors told her that with a lot of physical therapy, time, and maybe a surgery or two I would be alright for the most part. She wasn't listening.
She picked me up and put me in the car. She drove home as fast as she could. Once we got home, I was picked up and put on the couch, and she ran upstairs. I could tell. That had shattered her future dreams. After about a half hour she came back down stairs.
"Kaiya I will be going away. Behave yourself until your father gets home. Goodbye" After that, she walked out the door and I haven't seen or heard from her since.
By now I am much better. I can walk a lot better. I need a little help sometimes, but I can walk without support for the most part. I do walk a little slower than everyone else, but I walk still. I also trip and fall more than the rest. But I am content that way. I'm grateful for even that. Except, the kids at my schools make fun of me for it. That makes it harder to make friends.
My father's been thinking about going back to his home country for a while, but two weeks ago was the first time he actually, seriously mentioned it. The idea in itself wasn't too weird for me. I grew up speaking Japanese just as well as I did English. I thought he meant a visit.
Until then, he had a steady job as a history teacher at the local college. Then he got a letter from a Tokyo U. He had applied there for a position not expecting to get it, but he did. He told me about it and then said that he accepted it. I was informed that I had two weeks to pack. That was two weeks ago. Goodbye America. Konichiwa Japan. This is going to be interesting.
A/N: Well, here's chapter 1! What do you all think? Is it interesting? Are you starting to understand things better? Things clicking? I hope so! Next chappie: the plane ride and moving in.